Coating, cleaning, and inspecting the inside and the outside of tubulars, pipe, and other cylindrical members (hereinafter collectively referred to as “tubulars”), such as oilfield pipe, are operations well known in the art. For example, abrasion cleaning and coating an inside surface of a tubular with a material applied thereto is used to prevent corrosion and erosion of the inside surface. Additionally, drill pipe is often cleaned and coated in order to reduce friction and wear in the pipe. Pipe that have been coated also require less pressure to pump fluid due to reduced friction.
With recent advances in material science and the demand for deeper and wider wells, downhole pipe lengths and diameters are increasing. The increased pipe lengths have limited the usefulness of previous inventions in this field due to the fact that prior cleaning and coating devices are unable to provide a uniform cleaning action or coating over an extended length. Despite the improvements in cleaning and coating technologies, problems of uneven erosion and coating thickness over the length of pipe have persisted.
Furthermore, a typical cleaning and coating system comprises a tubular rotating station capable of rotating only one or two tubulars simultaneously. With the ever increasing demand for cleaned and/or coated tubulars, such systems are not capable of cleaning and coating large quantities of tubulars. Therefore, there is a need for providing a rotating device that can receive and simultaneously rotate a plurality of tubulars. There is a need in the art for providing a coating device which turns all pipe sections at a constant predetermined speed.
Another drawback of previous tubular rotating devices is that they were unable to receive and rotate tubulars having different diameters. Specifically, the previous devices can receive and rotate a tubular having a specific diameter and cannot adjust for tubulars having smaller or larger diameters. Therefore, there is a need for providing a rotating device that can receive and rotate tubulars of different diameters, simultaneously and/or consecutively.
Yet another drawback of the previous tubular rotating devices is their susceptibility to being contaminated by debris, cleaning agents, and coating particles and agents during cleaning, coating, and inspection operations. For example, previous rotating devices use exposed or external chain and sprocket assemblies or belt and pulley assemblies to transmit torque or rotational motion from a motor to the tubular rotating wheels. During operations, cleaning agents, coating particles, and debris can enter the working components of the prior rotating devices, which can cause excessive wear and tear or a complete cease of the prior tubular rotating devices. Therefore, there is a need for a tubular rotating device, wherein the working or torque transferring portions thereof are enclosed or covered to prevent particles, agents, and other contaminants from contacting such working components.
Embodiments usable within the scope of the present disclosure meet these needs.